"Opa, a new opensource programming language aiming to make web development transparent has been publicly launched. Opa automatically generates client-side Javascript and handles communication and session control. The ultimate goal of this project is to allow writing distributed web applications using a single programming language to code application logics, database queries and user interfaces. Among existing applications already developed in Opa, some are worth a look. Best place to start is the project homepage which contains extensive documentation while the code of the technology is on GitHub. A programming challenge ends October 17th." This is weird. 'Opa' is the nickname my friends gave me 6 years ago. It's still used more often than my actual name...

Have been looking into Wt (aka witty) myself so you are right the concept isn't entirely new.

There were, however, tablets before the iPad and MP3 players before the iPod. Being first isn't a substitute for getting it right.

Not at all sure Opa has it right but I'll take a good look.

Way too much web development has involved 4+ languages in a single source file (HTML, CSS, JS and (say) PHP) which has to be crazy for any developer focussing on a real application task.

Furthermore I would love to have my web development underpinned with tools that sort out the multiplicity of browser foibles out there without me tearing my hair out. A recompile with the latest tool edition, I can handle but working around each bug in each version of each browser saps my will to live.